ZTL fine in Italy: how much, when it arrives, how to pay or appeal

How much is a ZTL fine?

Driving into an active limited traffic zone without a permit breaks Article 7(14) of the Italian Highway Code (Codice della Strada): the fine is €83 to €332. These are the 2026 amounts, because the inflation update due every two years under Article 195 is suspended until the end of 2026. Each council adds its own administrative and postage costs.

Pay within 60 days of the notice and you owe the minimum, €83 (Article 202). Pay within 5 days and it drops to €58.10: the 30% discount applies to ZTL fines, which carry no licence suspension or confiscation. If you neither pay nor appeal within 60 days, the notice becomes enforceable for half the maximum, €166, plus costs (Article 203).

A ZTL fine carries no penalty points: Article 7 is not in the points table attached to Article 126-bis.

One fine per pass or per day?

Since 14 December 2024 (Law no. 177 of 25 November 2024), Article 198(2-bis) says that only one penalty per calendar day applies when several breaches of the same restriction are recorded by camera, without the driver being stopped, in the same ZTL. This holds even if the zone is only active at certain times, and even if a time band ends the next day.

The rule has limits:

• it works zone by zone: two different ZTLs on the same day can mean two fines;
• each day counts separately: three days of passes, three possible fines;
• it only covers automatic camera records.

In Padua, where cameras also watch the exits, an unauthorised entry and exit on the same day count as one offence, but leaving the next day is a new one.

When the notice must arrive

The notice (verbale) must be served within 90 days of the offence if you live in Italy, and within 360 days if you live abroad (Article 201). A notice served later can be challenged on that ground alone.

With a hire car there are two steps: the council first writes to the hire company, which names the driver; the deadline then restarts once the council can identify you. So the fine itself can arrive more than a year after your trip, after the hire company's admin charge, which does not replace it.

Checking the notice and the photos

Check the number plate, date, time, gate and posting date. The camera must be type-approved (Article 201(1-bis)). How you see the photo depends on the council: an online portal using the notice number, or a written request to the local police office named on the notice. An unreadable plate or another vehicle in the photo is grounds for appeal.

Paying from abroad

Payment methods are printed on the notice (Article 202): usually a bank transfer with IBAN and BIC, sometimes a pagoPA notice you can pay online. Quote the notice number and the plate, choose to pay the bank charges yourself so the council receives the exact amount, and keep the receipt. The 5 days run from service, meaning when you receive the letter: do not leave it unopened.

Paying means giving up your appeal: Articles 203 and 204-bis only allow one if you have not paid. If you intend to challenge the fine, do not pay.

Appealing: prefect or justice of the peace

Two routes, one or the other, never both:

• Appeal to the prefect of the place of the offence, within 60 days, by recorded delivery with acknowledgement of receipt or by PEC (Italian certified email), with your evidence. It is free, but if it is rejected the prefect orders at least twice the minimum, €166, plus costs.
• Challenge before the justice of the peace (giudice di pace) of the place of the offence, within 30 days, or 60 days if you live abroad (Legislative Decree 150/2011, Article 7). There is a court fee, and the case is filed in Italian.

Solid grounds: late notice, wrong plate, missing signs, unapproved camera, a permit you really had.

If you were entitled to enter

Hotel inside the ZTL. In almost every city on this site, the hotel sends your plate to the council, within very different time limits: 3 hours in Florence, 10 hours in Pisa, 72 hours in Bergamo, 10 days in Turin. In Treviso, guests must register their plate themselves, within 5 days. If a fine still arrives, ask the hotel for proof that it registered you, or at least a statement of your stay showing the plate, and write to the office named on the notice before paying. A late correction is not guaranteed; if it fails, these documents support your appeal.

Disabled parking badge. The European badge (CUDE in Italy) gives access to ZTLs, but the camera only sees the plate. A national platform, set up by decree on 5 July 2021, lets holders of an Italian CUDE register their plate once for all participating councils, such as Milan, Bologna, Parma, Pisa and Siena. With a badge issued outside Italy, you must register the plate with each council under its own rule: 48 hours in Florence, 15 days in Palermo, and in Turin only afterwards, within 10 days. If a fine arrives, send the office named on it a copy of the badge and the plate.

Collection outside Italy

Ignoring the notice does not cancel the debt: if collection abroad fails, Article 203(3-bis) allows the fine to be claimed for five years from whoever is found driving the foreign-registered vehicle at a check in Italy.

The EU exchange of vehicle registration data (Directive 2015/413) does not yet cover ZTLs. Directive (EU) 2024/3237, to be transposed by 20 July 2027, adds failure to respect vehicle access restrictions, under conditions, and sets up mutual assistance to enforce fines above €70 in the country of residence. The €83 minimum is above that threshold.